Adults play with colorful building blocks on the floor; one sits smiling separately, observing the activity.

Working with Children and Young People

Your Career Guide

This career guide is designed to help University of Portsmouth students and recent graduates explore job options, key employers, and entry routes related to working with children and young people.

Working with children and young people can be a challenging but rewarding career and the diversity of the sectors you could work in offers the opportunity to gain a wide range of experience.

Achieving a degree in childhood and youth studies, education or other humanity-based subjects can open up numerous opportunities across different sectors. Such degrees offer excellent foundations for careers working with children and young people in areas such as early years, youth and community work, education, health or social care. You could consider hands-on roles in schools and nurseries, outreach work in local communities, supporting families through social care, or even shaping policy and practice in education - the possibilities are exciting and varied.

This guide has been broken down into four main areas – early years, youth and community work, health and social care and education. If you are specifically interested in teaching, please refer to our Teaching career guide for more in- depth information.

 

Explore the Working with Children and Young People career guide

Getting started in your career with children and young people

Understand your options and take the first steps to beginning your career working with children and young people. 

Teacher's hand extracting early years book from shelf
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Gaining experience working with children and young people

Find out how to build your experience working with children and young people while you study. 

Young man holding a pool cue, concentrating on the game, with two people in the background at a home pool table.
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Finding a job working with children and young people

Explore the different ways you can find employment after you graduate.

HSS Teaching Facility Milldam
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